AS ONE WHO has always used reading as an excuse for postponing more useful activities, I have been surprised to find myself glued to the flat panel TV in my room at Upshur Manor Nursing Center.

Of particular interest has been a station that carries “Univision” movies and shorter films.

“Voces Inocentes” is their theme. Childhoods are shattered at an alarming rate.

Some of the commercials are bilingual, as in canned beans that are both “black beans” and “frijoles negros.”

The innocent voices channel had a movie billed as mostly fictional, but based on the life of Oscar Torres.

CHICAGO’S station WGN has been running a series on “America’s funniest home videos.” This has proved that an amateur with a small camera can go where professionals would not tread.

Funny babies and small children are the standouts, but other groups have their places in the sun.

The largest percentage are said to be true —not surprisingly, since we all know that truth can be stranger that fiction.

THE AMERICA’S Funniest Videos awards, obviously patterned after the Oscars, were presented recently.

Best director went to a chubby boy who looked to be about five. A baby did sit-ups on a walking machine while adults nearby walked off their excess weight on similar devices.

Beethoven’s Ninth was the musical accompaniment as a pack of kids tried to commit mayhem on each other.

NOT HOME videos but amusing to think about are the 60 greatest TV comedies of all time, as selected by TV Guide magazine for May 20-June 2.

I Love Lucy came in at No. 1 — unarguably some would say, but not my favorite.

I’d go with All in the Family, 1971-79, when TV comedy came of age in the Bunker household, listed at No.2; M*A*S*H, 1972-83; No.7; “War may be hell, but we were in heaven watching the shenanigans of the Army medics cutting up amid the carnage of the Korean conflict.”

Also, Saturday Night Live, 1975-now, No. 10 “An incubator of talent that has produced more stars than we can count. . . ; The Carol Burnett Show, 1967-78, No. 16. “Spoofing Scarlett O’Hara in a curtained gown was her most indelible moment, but Carol and Co….had a million of them, cracking each other up while leaving us in stitches.”

AND NEVER forget The Golden Girls, No. 20, 1985-92. “More tart than sweet, often uproariously and proudly raunchy, these four women — Betty White, Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty— gave a master class in golden-age performance and characterization. Who needs spring chickens when these fabulous hens are on their game?”

The good news is that episodes of The Golden Girls are being rerun on daytime TV.